UALR’s top scorer sidelined by injury

UALR isn’t sure how long it’ll be without leading scorer Will Neighbour, but it’ll be at least one more game.

Coach Steve Shields said Tuesday that Neighbour, a senior forward who is averaging 16.3 points per game and 7.2 rebounds, will not play Thursday night when UALR visits Troy after dislocating his left shoulder early in the second half of Saturday’s loss to Texas-Arlington at the Jack Stephens Center.

Neighbour visited a doctor Tuesday and later that afternoon was out of a sling that he had worn since Saturday, Shields said.

Shields hopes Neighbour can return for Saturday’s game against Arkansas State. If he does, he’ll likely wear a bulky brace similar to the one he wore during the second half of the 2011-2012 season when he suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder and a torn right bicep.

“You hope, but it’s day to day,” Shields said. “I don’t think we can speculate on when that day will come.”

Neighbour was playing Saturday for the first time in two weeks after missing the previous two games with a right ankle injury. With 15:58 left in Saturday’s loss, Neighbour followed up a miss by Leroy Isler with a left-handed dunk, then fell to the floor in pain.

He was helped off the floor and when trainers couldn’t’ get the shoulder popped back into place he was transported to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where it was put back in place.

The injury was to the same shoulder he had surgery on while at Daytona State College in 2010 when he suffered a torn labrum. In 2012 he had surgery to repair a torn labrum suffered during his sophomore season at UALR. Shields said they don’t yet know if another surgery will be needed.

The injury hurts UALR’s chances in tonight’s game considering Neighbour’s production, but it’s disappointing for Shields considering what Neighbour had become after enduring injury issues through his first two seasons.

Ten times this season he’s scored at least 20 points in a game, including six times in conference play. He averaged 20.4 points and 6.0 rebounds during one seven-game stretch in January. Neighbour scored 24 points in the Jan. 30 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette and 23 in a Feb. 1 victory at South Alabama, the game in which he sprained his right ankle.

“His mind-set is good,” Shields said. “Will is a very upbeat guy. He wants to play. You know how passionate he is about the game and how hard he’s worked to get where he is now. We’ve just got to take it day by day.”